NOWIN RACIAL JUSTICE

Chicago Leads Nation in Murders, With Young People Under 25 Dying Most Often

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stands with family members of murder victims and community leaders as he listens to a speaker during a press conference at St. Sabina Church January 3, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. In 2012 Chicago reported 506 murders. In the first 3 days of 2013 Chicago has had 5 murders. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Chicago leads the nation in murders and young people under 25 are often the ones who die. Last year the windy city experienced 100 more murders than New York City, even though NYC has three times as many residents.

The Chicago Reporter, a publication that has been investigating race and poverty since 1972, just published an investigation that looks at the 21 leading communities for youth homicides in the city.

The city’s 21 leading communities for youth homicides, all majority-black or majority-Latino communities on the city’s South, Southwest and West sides, account for just 32 percent of the city’s residents. But they also account for:

More than 73 percent of the city’s 1,118 homicide victims under the age of 25 from 2008 through 2012

Almost 70 percent of Chicago’s population loss between 2000 and 2010. Those 21 communities collectively lost 140,000 residents during that time. The city as a whole lost 200,000 residents

More than 53 percent of the locations of Chicago public school closings announced since 2001

Nearly 43 percent of Chicago’s 109,000 foreclosure filings from January 2007 through June 2012

More than 71 percent of the city’s 138 public elementary schools that were low-performing in math [“Low-performing” is defined as schools where fewer than 10 percent of students’ standardized test scores exceeded state standards during the 2011-2012 school year]

Nearly 68 percent of the 221 Chicago public elementary schools that were low-performing in reading

Nearly 59 percent of the 46 public high schools whose average 11th grade ACT composite scores were below 16

More than 56 percent of the city’s more than 72,296 teen births from 1999 through 2009

Read this online at http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/01/chicago_leads_nation_in_murders_with_young_people_under_25_dying_most_often.html

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